Since Switzerland climbed from sixteenth to fourteenth place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2011–12 season,[5] the league regained its second spot for the UEFA Champions League.
[citation needed] No team were relegated on competitive grounds at the end of the 2011–12 season after Neuchâtel Xamax were expelled from the league over financial irregularities midway through the campaign.
[citation needed] Its successors Neuchâtel Xamax 1912 were subsequently inserted into the fifth-tier 2.
Both teams played a two-legged series, which was won by Sion, 3–1 on aggregate.
The club from Valais thus remained in the league despite having received a 36-point deduction for fielding ineligible players during the season.